Head of State

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: not given up her ambition to become the second President Clinton. Mr Clinton has made millions for both himself and his foundation from the global lecture-and-advice circuit. The Clinton Foundation has a staff of 800 who deal with sensitive issues such as AIDS and poverty reduction. All sitting presidents are rightly leery of giving their predecessors a chance to interfere in foreign policy. The media beast will undoubtedly seize on any signs of discord between the two Democratic families.

But the case against the appointment is nevertheless exaggerated. Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton have remarkably few ideological differences: they are both pragmatists who believe in working through diplomacy if possible but in resorting unhesitatingly to force if necessary. Their squabbles during the primaries—over Mrs Clinton’s vote to authorise the Iraq war or Mr Obama’s willingness to hold “unconditional” talks with Iran—were not squabbles over substance. There is nothing comparable here to the profound philosophical differences in the first Bush administration between the doves, led by Colin Powell, and the hawks, led by Dick Cheney.

Politicians do not need ideological differences to get into a fight, to be sure. Even in the best of times the State Department has a long history of fighting turf wars with other instruments of foreign-policy making, particularly the Pentagon, the National Security Council, the vice-president’s office and the Oval Office. Won’t the arrival of a prima donna at Foggy Bottom make these turf wars even worse than usual?

Not necessarily. Joe Biden, who has plenty to say about foreign policy, was reportedly one of Mrs Clinton’s leading backers for the job. Robert Gates, who seems to be staying on as defence secretary, has been arguing for years that America has invested too much in the Pentagon at the expense of the State Department. Mrs Clinton has a long-standing relationship with James Jones, the former general whom Mr Obama is said to have tapped as national security adviser (though whether the relationship will survive the traditional rivalry between that role and the secretary of state is another matter).

Star power, and more

Mrs Clinton will also bring an impressive list of qualities to Foggy Bottom. One is star power. The former first lady and erstwhile presidential candidate will have no trouble attracting attention wherever she goes.